Tool · six questions, one era

How old is my postcard?

Hold your card in your hand and answer what you see. Each question reads one piece of physical evidence — together they place the card in its era. If your card carries a Curt Teich production number, the decoder can usually do better than an era: an exact year.

Era boundaries follow the standard chronology used by the Smithsonian Institution Archives and postcard-collecting references: Private Mailing Card (1898–1901), Undivided Back (1901–1907), Divided Back (1907–1915), White Border (1915–1930), Linen (1930–1945), Photochrome (1945 on). These describe US-published cards; European conventions shifted a few years earlier.